Chasing Phantoms
by Special FX
Summary: The tale of the Phantom Thief was a popular story to tell, among the children of the slums.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1-**

 **The Heist**

* * *

Roman Torchwick was many things.

He was a gentleman, an aspiring criminal kingpin, and one of the best damn thieves in all of the kingdoms. While his reputation wasn't quite as notorious as he would've liked it to be, most of the criminal underground and public masses at the very least, knew that Vale was _his_ turf. Now, even a punk with a ski-mask knew that there wasn't any honor among thieves, but he'd like to think that there was at the very least, _etiquette_. You didn't just barge into somebody else's turf without any warning whatsoever, not unless you wanted a bullet to the back of the head anyway.

And Roman _really_ wanted to shoot the punk that had the balls to steal _his_ spotlight, in _his_ damn city.

"Look at them, Neo. Running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. What a joke."

Two different colored irises regarded him with a playful expression. Neopolitan, his vertically challenged partner-in-crime, let out a silent chuckle. After a couple of quick taps on her scroll, she held up the device in front of his eyes.

" _You think he'll actually show up this time?"_

Roman didn't reply immediately, choosing to continue scrutinizing Vale's joke of a police department instead. Police cars lined the street and there was at least one officer standing at every corner block all around the building. Some of them were undercover, but it wasn't too hard for him to pick them out from the civilians. It seemed that the Schnee Dust Company had been pulling some strings to beef up their security.

What a farce, as if a bunch of incompetent cops were going to stop the 'Phantom Thief of Vale'.

"Oh, he'll show up Neo. Someone with a flair for the dramatics like that guy wouldn't give this opportunity up."

From what Roman had managed to discover from his network, the Phantom Thief had a couple of strange quirks. For one, he seemed to only be interested in stealing from the Schnee Dust Company. That was the first odd little detail that stood out to Roman, for while the Schnee Dust Company was the 'go-to' when you needed a _lot_ of highly refined Dust, they were also the ones with the most annoying security systems to deal with. For someone that was just interested in making money, it was simply better to target the smaller vendors instead, since it was less risk for more or less the same product, albeit in smaller quantities.

It wasn't as if the Phantom Thief needed tons of the goods anyway, from what he had seen, the guy only took a few crates of Dust at the most. If he were to only steal small amounts of Dust like that, wouldn't it make more sense to simply target the small-time stores instead of going after the company itself? Why would anyone willingly make a job more difficult than it had to be?

It just didn't make any sense.

That wasn't even the strangest thing though. No, it wasn't even close, because at the very least with this, Roman could say that the Phantom Thief simply enjoyed the thrill of the heist. There wasn't as much of a rush from a stick-up in some small-time shop when compared to stealing from the Schnee Dust Company itself after all. The Phantom Thief even left a calling card behind after every job, as if he just wanted to piss off the suits over at the company even more. That just screamed to Roman that the Phantom Thief was someone that enjoyed putting on a good show.

But then there was that other quirk of his...

There were some rumors running around on the streets that the Phantom Thief was actually giving _away_ his spoils, and for _free_! Roman had laughed it off at first, but when he saw some of the Faunus in the slums walking around with brand new clothes and actual food in their bellies, he began to have second thoughts on the matter. Naturally, he went to investigate and personally interrogated one of those animals himself.

Oh, they didn't want to talk at first, but a little _persuasion_ from Neo was all that they needed to spill the beans.

And what a can of beans they were. To his complete and utter disbelief, the rumors proved to be true. The Phantom Thief was actually _giving_ away his spoils to those poor bastards in the slums. It was insanity. Roman just couldn't even wrap his mind around the thought process behind something like that.

Did the Phantom Thief fancy himself as some kind of Robin Hood or something?

Not only was Roman getting shown up in his own damn city. It was at the hands of some punk that thought of himself as some kind of hero of the poor. Just the thought of something ridiculous as that was driving him insane enough to want to rip his favorite hat in two.

" _Roman_." A nudge from his partner, " _You see that?_ "

Roman turned his attention towards the direction that Neo was pointing at.

He had to squint, but he could see something perched on top of another building's rooftop. Taking out his binoculars, Roman zoomed in for a better look. And right there, perched on top of a nearby rooftop was the Phantom Thief himself. That white mask of his seemed to be almost glowing in contrast to the darker colors that he wore. An odd choice of colors, if Roman had anything to say on the matter, he had been expecting something a little more flashy.

"Heh." Roman chuckled, "It looks like our little friend finally came to play, Neo."

Neo just grinned in response.

Roman kept his sights locked on the Phantom Thief as the gears in his brain began to whirl. Now, just how was the guy going to make his way into the building? And then, as if the Phantom Thief could read his thoughts, the very next moment, he jumped off the rooftop.

Roman's eyes went wide.

"What the hell is that guy doing?!"

Even Neo seemed surprised.

Roman kept his eyes glued on the Phantom Thief as he began free falling towards the ground. And then, just like that, the Phantom Thief suddenly disappeared into the shadows, as if he had merged with the very darkness itself. Roman almost cracked an eyelid from holding his binoculars too tightly against his face.

"Neo, am I seeing things, or did our guy just disappear into thin air?"

Another nudge from his partner brought his attention towards the SDC building. And right there, hanging from the dark side of the building, where the shadows almost obscured him from his vision, was the Phantom Thief.

Just how the hell did he get over there?

" _A semblance probably._ " Neo typed out with a slight shrug. " _Something to do with shadows I'm guessing._ "

The Phantom Thief moniker actually made sense now, how fitting.

" _Great_." Roman scoffed, "As if he wasn't hard enough to track down before. Now you're telling me he can teleport too?"

Neo flashed him a dangerous grin.

" _It makes it more fun this way though._ " She replied, " _Look, he's making his way into the building._ "

Roman watched as the Phantom Thief made his way towards the top of the building and picked open a door on the rooftop with relative ease.

"Seriously, that's just unfair." Roman grumbled, "That was way too easy for him."

Neo laughed in response.

" _You act like it's going to be difficult for us._ "

Neo's aura flared a bit and then her appearance changed completely. She now wore one of Vale's police uniforms with a matching hat to boot. Her hair and eyes had changed accordingly as well. For an illusion, it was as real as it could get.

His partner-in-crime grinned.

" _How do I look?_ "

* * *

Roman had learned early on that as long as you looked the part and walked around like you knew what you were doing, nobody would ever suspect a thing.

Neopolitan had done her job easily enough. The entire SDC building was now on high alert, having been tipped off by somebody that there was an intruder in the building. Roman kept his eyes focused on the rooftop of the building. Now that the whole place was locked down, the only way the Phantom Thief was getting away would be with that little fancy trick of his through the rooftop again.

He felt a little bad for selling out a fellow thief to the cops, but then again, the Phantom Thief had been one to break etiquette in the first place. After all, you can't expect to come into another guy's territory _and_ steal his thunder without paying the repercussions. Roman could be _real_ petty when it came to his reputation.

Sirens started blaring as more and more Vale P.D. began to arrive on the scene. It seemed that they finally managed to find the Phantom Thief. And right on cue, the door to the rooftop blasted open and the Phantom Thief ran out with a mixture of Atlas security personal and police hot on his trail. They chased him towards the edge of the building, and being the flashy bastard that he was, the Phantom Thief gave a brief wave before he leapt off the building in a flourish.

Roman had to admit, the guy had style if anything.

With bated breath, he watched as the Phantom Thief appeared to vanish into the very shadows themselves once again. The only question now was which direction he went. From what he had seen of the ability the first time, it seemed that his 'jump' distance was limited to other nearby areas with shadows.

Eventually, Roman was able to spot him running along another rooftop a couple blocks away from the SDC building. Roman frowned, before he quickly picked up his cane and began chasing after the thief. Reaching into his coat pocket for his scroll, he hit the speed-dial for his partner-in-crime and held the scroll next to his ear.

"Neo, our guy's headed down Main street on the rooftops. See if you can get a ride and hunt him down."

A 'click' on the other side was the only response he received, signalling that she had ended the call prematurely. Roman usually avoided phone calls with Neopolitan as they could hardly be called a conversation, but sometimes, it just couldn't be helped. Roman kept his eyes on the Phantom Thief as they both continued hopping over rooftops.

Eventually, the Phantom Thief ducked down onto an emergency fire escape and began to make his way into a back alley.

Roman followed suit, sending a quick message to Neo along the way. He knew these streets well, and if the Phantom Thief thought he could get away from Roman Torchwick, then the guy had another thing coming. Roman ducked into an alley of his own as he chased after the Phantom Thief. To his credit, the Phantom Thief seemed to have spotted him and only increased his pace in response.

Roman only smirked as he kept after the other thief, there was no way he was getting away now.

As they both kept running through the alleyways, a police siren started sounding off in the nearby distance. The Phantom Thief simply kept running until a police car cut him off, blocking off the only exit as Roman skidded to a stop. It was a narrow two-way alley and the only way out was through him or the police car.

The door to the police car soon popped open and his lovely little partner-in-crime slipped out with a grin on her face.

"Well, well." Roman began with a sneer, "Now look what we have here. The _Phantom Thief of Vale_ himself!"

The Phantom Thief kept his back to the wall, eyes darting back and forth for a brief moment as if searching for a non-existent escape route. When it became apparent to the guy that there wasn't any, his shoulders slumped a little and he simply leaned against the wall.

"You're Roman Torchwick."

Roman was surprised at how young the Phantom Thief sounded, but kept his surprise to himself.

"Oh, so you've heard of me? Why I'm honored." Roman replied in a mocking tone. "How about you then, Mr. Phantom Thief? Got a name for me?"

"Joker."

Roman raised an eyebrow at that . An alias, more than likely.

"You were the one that tipped off the police." Joker simply stated, annoyance evident in his voice. "Why?"

" _Why_ indeed?" Roman smirked, "Y'see, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now, and well… I'm sure even the police can attest to how hard it is to get a hold of you." Roman chuckled to himself, "The cops are a bunch of idiots, but they served their purpose this time."

"Fine. I'm here." Joker crossed his arms over his chest, "Now talk."

"Yeesh, you're a prickly one aren't you?" Roman quipped with a grin, "You mad I ruined your heist or something?"

Joker didn't reply and just stared. Roman had a feeling that the Phantom Thief wasn't someone to get riled up easily, but it was worth the attempt. It was difficult to get a good read on the guy, and that was starting to bug him a bit.

"Well, whatever. I'll get straight to the point then." Roman said, his eyes narrowing. "See, I'm sure you know but, this is _my_ city and I don't appreciate punks coming into my turf unannounced."

"So _that's_ what this is about?" Joker asked, a little exasperation seeping into his tone. "You're worried that I'm taking your marks from you?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Roman simply shook his head, "Even a hundred of us couldn't steal all the Dust from the Schnee's. What I'm pissed about is that you're stealing _my_ spotlight." Roman continued as he brought up Melodic Cudgel and held a finger over its trigger. "Sorry to the bearer of bad news Joker, but there's only room for one master thief in this city, and it ain't _you_."

Joker only sighed in response.

"I'm guessing that asking you to let me go is out of the picture then?"

Roman just laughed before he pulled the trigger.

His laughter however, only died in his throat when a strange hand shot out from the shadows behind the wall that Joker was leaning against. The hand then proceeded to catch the Dust bullet in mid-air, crushing it into tiny little pieces with a sick _crunch_. Blue flames seemed to have suddenly sprung to life all around and the white mask that the Phantom Thief wore had begun to glow with an eerie blue as well. The hand then began to move out of the shadows, dragging along more dangly limbs before revealing a strange winged-creature draped entirely in red.

It's pitch black face seemed to be almost smiling at him, although that made the creature no less menacing in his eyes. If it weren't for the fact that that _thing_ looked like a humanoid Grimm that wanted to tear his face off, he would've laughed at how absurd the whole situation was. Blues flames danced about under the moonlight as Joker reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife along with a pistol.

Roman Torchwick suddenly had a sinking feeling that he had screwed up.

* * *

Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug as he put down his newspaper.

It seemed that Vale's newest criminal superstar was on the move once again. The Schnee Dust Company was the target as per usual, and judging from his latest press conference, it seemed that Jacques had finally had enough. Ozpin had a feeling that the president of the Schnee Dust Company would be complaining to General Ironwood soon enough.

And while that wasn't any of his business, he knew that James would try to leverage the opportunity as a way to bring in more Atlas troops into the city, which was the last thing that Vale needed right now. The general was stubborn that way, and ever since he had been appointed as the head of security for the next Vytal festival by the council, he had been lobbying for more Atlas forces into the city for weeks now.

Ozpin preferred to not get involved with small-time criminals like the Phantom Thief or Roman Torchwick, even if they were rather infamous, but with the recent developments, he wouldn't have much of a choice in that regard if he wanted to keep the status quo.

Bringing back Qrow would put a dent into his plans, but he simply couldn't afford to have the General barreling into the city with his troops just because Jacques was throwing a fit. He'd have to nip this Phantom Thief problem in the bud before it made things worse. And _perhaps_ , he just might be able to leverage the Phantom Thief into another piece on his side of the board. He would need all the pieces that he could get against the Red Queen after all.

Reaching for his scroll, Ozpin punched in a familiar series of numbers.

"What do you need Oz?" The voice that came through the speakers was a bit muffled, but still understandable nonetheless.

"Tell me Qrow, what do you know about the Phantom Thief of Vale?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes-** Roman my boy, you done goofed. I'd like to imagine that if Akira couldn't steal hearts anymore, he would take a more Robin Hood-esque approach to things on Remnant. Enjoy the story and let me know what you guys think.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-**

 **The Heist II**

* * *

Ruby Rose stepped out of the store with a bit of a pep in her step.

She didn't visit Vale too often, maybe once every couple of weeks with her sister at the most. It was a pretty long trip from Patch after all, so she tried to make her occasional visits scarce. Ruby loved the little town that she was born in, truly she did, but Patch just couldn't measure up to Vale when it came to its selection of Dust and materials for her weapons.

It was why she often found herself shopping in the big city rather than back at home when it came to buying parts for Crescent Rose. She would only settle for the best for her baby after all, even if it meant a long trip into the city. Not only was the selection better, but the prices were a bit cheaper as well, so it made the trip worth it in her eyes.

She'd also be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy passing the time by checking out the new issues of her favorite weapons magazine that only printed out in Vale.

Although, she didn't linger around the magazine rack too long this time around because of how late it was. The last thing that Ruby needed right now was another lecture from Dad about staying out too late. She just hoped that Yang didn't cause too much trouble with her little 'errand' that she had to take care of at the city's local nightclub for some odd reason…

Ruby had decided right then and there to just not dwell on it too much. Yang would always do Yang things after all.

As Ruby made her way down the street, a poster hanging from a dimly lit brick wall caught her eye. With her curiosity getting the better of her, she took a closer look at the poster and checked out its contents. It seemed to be a wanted poster with a detailed photo of a man in a white mask grinning into the camera.

Even over in Patch, Ruby had heard about the Phantom Thief of Vale.

He was all over the news on every single T.V. station as of late. There were even entire websites and message boards dedicated towards finding out his real identity. With his flair for the dramatics and an apparent grudge with the Schnee Dust Company, the Phantom Thief was all everybody was talking about lately. Rather than just being another common criminal, it seemed like the Phantom Thief had almost become Vale's newest celebrity overnight.

There was a substantial reward for his capture and a smaller reward for any information pertaining to the man. The number of zeros on the poster actually made Ruby's eyes go wide for a moment when she imagined how many high quality Dust rounds she could buy with that kind of money. The reward money made a lot more sense when she saw the Schnee Dust Company logo printed on the bottom of the poster.

When you were as rich as the Schnee Dust Company, you could probably afford to throw that kind of money around.

Ruby found her hand reaching out for the poster before she gently pried it off the wall and stuffed it into her bag, along with all of her newly purchased bottles of Dust. Ruby Rose was a future huntress _and_ hero in the making after all. What better way would there be to embark on her journey towards heroism than to capture the infamous Phantom Thief of Vale?

Of course, she'd be lying if she said that all the upgrades for Crescent Rose that she could buy with the reward money didn't play a _tiny_ part in influencing her decision. Since she was still on summer vacation from Signal, she definitely had the time for a small part-time job like this. With the amount of zeros that was being offered, she could probably convince Yang to help out as well, _without_ letting their dad find out of course. Dad could get pretty overprotective at times.

It seemed like an easy enough job for a huntress-in-training. After all, compared to fighting against the Grimm like she had back in Patch, how hard could it be to just capture a simple thief?

* * *

Akira Kurusu sneezed.

He zipped up his jacket all the way in response. While it was still summer, the nights in Vale could still get quite chilly and tonight was no exception. Vale was a bustling city and people scurried about even in the after hours of the day. The traffic was even worse, with everybody trying to get home all at the same time.

Akira was glad that he lived nearby, within walking distance of Vale University.

The campus wasn't that big since it was located within the center of the city, but it had everything that a student needed. He stopped by the store and picked up a can of soda before he made his way over towards the library. Once inside the building's heated interior, he took off his jacket and searched around for a familiar pair of dark aviator sunglasses.

The person in question apparently spotted him at the same time and waved.

"It's rare for you to be late Akira." Coco Adel pointed out with an easy-going grin, "What's the special occasion?"

Akira sat down on the seat across from her with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, I got held up at work."

"Ah, don't even worry about it." Coco chuckled, "I can't even remember how many times I've made you wait for me, so it's only fair."

"So, what's the topic today?" Akira replied, keeping the smile on his face. "You _have_ been studying the notes that I gave you last time, right?"

Coco's grin faltered a bit.

"Er…"

"You haven't even looked at them, have you Coco?"

"Hey! In my defense, my team and I just came back from a mission a few days ago!" The brown-haired woman countered, "I just kind of… Forgot about it."

Akira only kept his scrutinizing gaze on her in response.

"Look, I promise I'll go over them tonight alright? Get off my back already Akira." Coco replied in a huff, "You know how I am with this school stuff. I'm more of an action first type of gal."

Akira just sighed.

"At this rate, you're going to fail the class Coco."

Her shoulders slumped.

"Ugh… Don't remind me." Coco groaned, "It's already annoying enough that I had to take summer classes. I don't even want to think about failing them, Goodwitch would kill me."

Akira chuckled in response.

"Well, I suppose that's why I'm here. Let's continue reviewing where we left off last week."

"Oh Akira, my hero~" Coco all but swooned.

Akira just rolled his eyes at the girl's antics before he flipped open her textbook.

It wasn't as if Coco didn't understand the material, she just didn't care for it at all. Their tutoring sessions weren't so much him teaching her, but more like babysitting her. He had noticed that she had a bad tendency to procrastinate as much as possible whenever he wasn't paying attention. Akira didn't particularly mind helping her out, since the material wasn't too difficult for him and she was a friend after all. Their little study group reminded him of the study sessions he and the Phantom Thieves used to have anyway. It brought back a sense of familiarity, even in a strange new world like this one.

It was always good to have someone owe you a favor as well, especially when they were a huntsman-in-training from the famed Beacon Academy.

"Hey Akira, did you see the news recently?" Coco asked as she stretched out her arms, "That Phantom Thief guy sure got the Schnees real good last night."

He just nodded in response as he kept his eyes focused on the textbook.

"Yeah, it was hard to miss, with the story being all over the news stations."

"I actually feel kind of bad for Vale P.D. for once." Coco snickered, "The Phantom Thief's making them look like total amateurs."

"Coco, shouldn't you be focusing?" Akira asked with a frown.

"Aww, come on Akira. I've been at it for at _least_ an hour." The girl groaned, "I deserve a little break."

"It's been twenty minutes at the most." He deadpanned.

"Ah close enough." Coco waved off, "Anyway, have you seen the new reward Jacques Schnee announced for the capture of the Phantom Thief?" Her eyes lit up, "With that many zeros I could buy out the whole mall if I wanted to!"

Akira couldn't help but give a small smile at that.

"Are you planning on trying to capture him yourself then?"

Coco simply shrugged.

"I don't know, it's a lot of money, but Jacques and the Schnee Dust Company are some grade-A pricks for how they treat the Faunus. I kind of like seeing them squirm like this."

The girl leaned back into her chair, her face scrunched up in thought.

"I'm sure a bunch of huntsmen are going to jump at the opportunity with a cash reward as big as Jacques is offering though. It's too bad for the Phantom Thief I guess."

Akira raised an eyebrow.

"You think some huntsmen are going to have more success than the Vale P.D.?"

Coco gave him a look.

"Come on Akira, really? Of course they are! Huntsmen have to deal with way more difficult jobs on the reg. I wouldn't be surprised if someone caught him by the end of the month to be honest with you. Hell, if I had the time I'd catch him within the week!"

Akira couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.

"Well, that's fine and all, but don't you think that's enough of a break for now? Let's get back to studying Coco."

The girl seemed to almost slump into her chair.

" _Ugh…_ Let's just get this over with then. I hope you take responsibility for my funeral."

This time, Akira resisted the urge to roll his eyes again before he started going over the next chapter with his brown-haired companion. She had shown him some of her marks from Beacon, and when it wasn't related to huntsmen work in the field, they had been less than stellar to say the least. He supposed that it _was_ hard to care much about classroom work when you were out there fighting against the Grimm half the time, so he'd give her _some_ slack.

"Akiiiraaaa, let's take a break now."

Coco sure knew how to push it though...

* * *

There were a lot of benefits in owning a nightclub.

People would be surprised at how much information a rambling drunk could have and how easy it was to get someone talking once they had enough to drink. Secrets were worth a lot in the criminal underworld and Hei 'Junior' Xiong was the go-to man when it came to information dealing. Then again, there were also some negatives that occasionally made Junior contemplate a career change into the straight life.

Being an information broker tended to attract the wrong kind of attention after all.

"Junior, you bastard." Roman Torchwick all but growled out, "You've known about 'Joker' all this time, haven't you?"

Junior only continued polishing his bar table in silence.

"I'm taking that silence as a yes." Roman's hand clenched into a fist. "And you didn't think it was a good idea to tell me about it _before_ I made an ass of myself?"

Junior put down his dishrag and let out a sigh.

"You know how the game works Roman. I don't go blabbering about _your_ secrets to my other clients now, do I?"

"... I need a drink." Roman tersely replied before he slapped a stack of lien onto the table. "I would've _really_ appreciated a warning by the way. It would've been real nice to _not_ get my teeth kicked in."

Junior would be lying if he said that he didn't get some form of satisfaction in hearing about Roman 'getting his teeth kicked in'. Roman was a customer that paid well, but he was also a prick and his ego had been growing so large lately that the man had been almost insufferable to deal with.

"So, you just here to complain?" Junior dryly asked as he slid a drink over towards the thief. "Or do you actually need something?"

Roman just scoffed.

"I got a big job coming up and I need some muscle."

Junior raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going after Joker again?"

"Does it look like I got a death wish?" The thief asked, an annoyed look on his face. "No, I'm not going after him again. And you know what? I don't plan on ever being within ten feet of that psychopath again. I got a big hit on a Dust shop in mind and I need some of your goons for the job."

"Fine, standard price." Junior simply replied, "I'll have them meet you at the usual place when you need them."

Junior didn't particularly _like_ sending his men with Roman, since they didn't usually return in one piece, or sometimes, at all. Roman was a patron that paid well however, and it would be bad business to lose one of his best customers, even if he was a pain in the ass to work with. Even then though, to expect him to sell out another one of his patrons? Junior supposed that honor was a term that was completely foreign to Roman.

He wasn't going to sell out the Phantom Thief for any amount of Lien Roman had to offer. And it wasn't just because of his honor either. It was a business decision first and foremost.

It was pretty funny for most of the criminal underworld to watch, to see the lengths that Joker would go to just to piss off Jacques and his board of directors; whether it was from simply leaving behind a calling card or staying _just_ long enough to smirk into a camera lens. The Phantom Thief had a growing reputation in the underworld and the price for information on the guy was only going to increase as the news of his heists continued to make the rounds. Junior was a businessman, and he knew that he had struck gold when the Phantom Thief had reached out to him.

"Much appreciated." Roman muttered as he finished his drink and walked away. "... _First the Phantom Thief and now a goddamn pyromaniac. Why do I have the worst luck_ …"

Junior wasn't quite sure what to make of that last comment, but he kept the information filed away in the back of his mind just in case it proved useful in the future. He was an information broker after all, and even the most unassuming ramblings of a drunk could hold some weight in this business, in the right circumstances anyway. Roman might've been a prick, but the man had a lot of connections in the criminal underworld, so even an off-handed comment like that held some weight.

He was just about to close up the bar when a blonde girl walked in as if she owned the place. When he got a better look at her, he could tell that she shouldn't have even been allowed inside his club to begin with.

Just what the hell were his men doing outside?

* * *

Akira kept a neutral expression on his face as he followed behind the line of people in front of him. The tour guide was busy talking about some kind of fancy Dust machine, but Akira didn't bother paying attention. Rather, he saw this as an opportunity to 'get lost' from the crowd and explore the building a bit.

Quietly slipping away from the tour area, Akira made his way through the employee's only door. He made sure to stay hidden from any passing by employee as he stalked his way deeper into the Schnee Dust Company halls. This building was their main headquarters in Vale, and he had decided that it was going to be the target of his next heist a while ago.

He'd just been too busy to scout out the place lately because of Coco needing extra help with an upcoming test.

Akira had heard from Junior that the company liked to keep a lot of their experimental products here, and he was pretty sure that those products could fetch a pretty penny or two in the black market. It wasn't as if he needed the money or anything like that, this was simply his way of extracting his own brand of 'justice' from Jacques and his company. The Faunus deserved to get back at the very least, _some_ of the money that they worked to the bone for.

Although he'd be lying if he said that he was only doing this for altruistic reasons.

It was a rebellion against some of the injustices of the world, in his own little way. Just like how a group of kids had managed to put an end to the reign of a corrupt politician in the past. Akira couldn't help but smile at the fond memory, even if he was only one here, he just couldn't quite kick the habit. The thrill of being a Phantom Thief was almost like a drug addiction for him.

He was a thrill chaser, through and through.

To the masses, he was the infamous Phantom Thief. To the criminal underworld he was the mysterious Joker, and to his friends, he was simply Akira Kurusu, just another everyday student at Vale University. It was a hard act to juggle at times, especially now that he was working alone, but he had gotten used to living with the lies over time. He had a _mask_ for every occasion after all, so much so that sometimes he even lost sight of his true self.

It really did cause him to miss the other Phantom Thieves, in more ways than one.

"You're not supposed to be in here." A cold voice pointed out. "Did you not see the sign or something?"

Akira turned around, towards the source of the voice and put on a plastic smile.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. I seem to have taken a wrong turn."

The former voice in question belonged to a girl that he had seen quite a few times on various news stories in the past. She had porcelain white hair and a face that almost reminded him of a doll. For a moment, Akira couldn't help but wonder why the Schnee heiresses was in Vale, and then he remembered that Coco had told him about a rumor like that a while ago.

He could still recall the headlines that were made when it was announced that Weiss Schnee was going to be a huntress and how she _wouldn't_ be attending a school in Atlas.

"A wrong turn." The Schnee heiress repeated with disbelief evident in her voice. "I can't help but find it hard to believe that a guard didn't stop you from entering the employees only area."

Akira simply shrugged.

"Strange, I didn't run into anyone at all."

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes, how strange indeed."

Akira could feel her scrutinizing gaze, but he only smiled in response. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the Schnee heiresses let out a sigh and shook her head.

"Fine then, if you would follow me…?" She paused, before looking at him expectantly.

"Akira. Akira Kurusu."

"Weiss Schnee, as I'm sure you're familiar with. Right, I'll take you back towards the tour area then, Akira." She replied in a tone that booked no room for argument. "And do try not to get 'lost' again. The next person you meet might not be as forgiving as myself."

Akira just smiled as he followed behind the heiress.

"Much appreciated, Weiss. I don't know what I would've done without you."

The girl rolled her eyes at that but kept walking nonetheless.

"So, Beacon Academy? Any specific reason for that?"

Weiss gave him a look.

"You don't look like the type that would be interested in reading gossip magazines."

"I like to stay well-informed." Akira replied with a shrug, "Information is always valuable after all."

"Even if the source is dubious at best?"

"Ah, but you are attending Beacon Academy this upcoming semester though, are you not?"

The heiress nodded her head.

"Beacon Academy is one of the most prestigious huntsmen academies on the planet. I have no reason to _not_ attend."

"That's true." Akira agreed, "But why would someone of _your_ status decide to become a huntsman?"

The Schnee heiress stopped walking and turned around, giving him a flat stare.

"We're here. Just go down the hallway until you see the door."

Akira just smiled again and nodded his head. If she didn't want to talk about it, that was fine. He was merely curious about her reasons and nothing more.

"Thank you, Weiss. I'll try my _absolute_ best to not lose my way again."

The girl just rolled her eyes at him before she stepped back into the employee only zone.

Naturally, being the klutz that he was, after a good ten minutes or so, Akira just so happened to 'get lost' once again. He still had a building to scope out after all. The place wasn't going to scout itself, and a Phantom Thief always came into a job prepared if anything.

Hell if he was lucky, he'd run into Weiss Schnee and be able to annoy her again.


End file.
